F1: Then vs. Now

I came across some data suggesting that current F1 cars are running on 13-inch wheels, but that they’re planning to switch over to 18-inch—or maybe 17-inch, I can't quite remember—in a year or two... Is that even plausible? 13 inches??

Jamie Howard3 said:I came across some data suggesting that current F1 cars are running on 13-inch wheels, but that they’re planning to switch over to 18-inch—or maybe 17-inch, I can't quite remember—in a year or two... Is that even plausible? 13 inches??

Yes, the 13s are certainly...

She was easily at her peak during the 80s and 90s

John Ortiz4 said:She was easily at her peak during the 80s and 90s

How exactly does this sentence help the discussion on this forum?

ruggedhawk20 said:How exactly does this sentence help the discussion on this forum?

Just weird and mystical, I guess.

zekohonda1 said:and right now, Red Bull Racing is all decked out in British racing green. ☕

Hehe... just trying to kill some time while watching F1 Rewind... We haven't even finished half a lap before—bam—Footwork-Hart hits the barrier...

Alexander Flores3 said:Hehe... just trying to kill some time while watching F1 Rewind... We haven't even finished half a lap before—bam—Footwork-Hart hits the barrier...

Which one? Verstappen, Rosset, or Inoue?

ruggedhawk20 said:Which one? Verstappen, Rosset, or Inoue?

I'd have to say Verstappen... you're probably thinking of that wild race back in '96 where only three cars actually made it to the finish line at the Monaco Grand Prix...

Alexander Flores3 said:I'd have to say Verstappen... you're probably thinking of that wild race back in '96 where only three cars actually made it to the finish line at the Monaco Grand Prix...

Taka Inoue—yeah, Taki Inoue was also a total blast of a driver behind the wheel of that Footwork-Hart

He slammed into the SC in Monaco back in '95,

and then the SC literally ran him over during the same year in Canada.

There’s even a parody based on the legend of Taki Inoue.

Sure, maybe he was a bit sloppy, clumsy, totally lost, or just doing his own thing—but honestly? He’s a legend in my book. And that parody is spot on.

Plus, his social media presence just proves what a class act he is.



So yeah—laugh at Taki all you want, but give him his respect at the same time.

You can do both.

If you ask me, he’s one of those characters the younger generation definitely needs to be reminded of every now and then.

Well, what can you say about that...

There was actually one guy who managed to walk away from a single race with a DNF, a DSQ, and a DNQ all at once...
Hans Heyer

By the way, I always had a soft spot for the Footwork crew... they had that wild livery back in '94 and '95 that looked almost like a jigsaw puzzle.

The 2008 Brazil Grand Prix. For me, it was easily the most beautiful race ever... You could just feel that day that Formula 1 had finally found its next big star for the seasons to come... Lewis Hamilton...

Alexander Flores3 said:The 2008 Brazil Grand Prix. For me, it was easily the most beautiful race ever... You could just feel that day that Formula 1 had finally found its next big star for the seasons to come... Lewis Hamilton...

Chronologically, it starts with Vettel—who actually beat him and basically forced some random team o'clock to hand over the title. 😁

🙂

ruggedhawk20 said:Chronologically, it starts with Vettel—who actually beat him and basically forced some random team o'clock to hand over the title. 😁

🙂

And then there's Timo Glock...

For me, the Japan Grand Prix and China 2007 were the ultimate previews of what we can expect from Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

James Harris34 said:For me, the Japan Grand Prix and China 2007 were the ultimate previews of what we can expect from Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

Sure, Lewis Hamilton absolutely botched one of those two races, and messed up pretty bad in the other too... but it wasn't exactly a regular thing back then.
Since then, he’s actually gotten his head straight, and honestly, he hasn't looked like a total clown in the rain lately.

The only constant remains this one little fact: throughout his career, he's mostly been given a free pass by the FIA and rarely gets penalized for his nonsense.

That Japan incident is such a bizarre chapter. 😍
First, the FIA penalizes the second driver because of some incredibly weird behavior from Lewis behind the SC. Then, once some fan footage pops up online (as if FOM didn't have its own footage 🙂), the FIA scraps the penalty because it's obvious Lewis was the actual culprit—yet they simultaneously decide not to punish him at all. 🙂

But hey, that's not exactly a miracle when you're a massive superstar and a media darling that everyone immediately obsessed over. When you're him, the FIA just conveniently looks the other way...
I wouldn't say that says much about Lewis as an individual, though. It says way more about the FIA as an organization and how much the media pulls their strings...

The tragic part of that whole saga is that the FIA could have been permanently disgraced if Lewis had won the 2007 title by just one or two points. It would have looked like he only won because the FIA played blind and deaf, refusing to penalize him after admitting he was the one at fault by overturning the previous penalty once the footage of his antics behind the SC surfaced...

It’s also unique because it might be the first and only time the FIA used some random fan's video from the stands as evidence during a hearing, simply because they apparently didn't have their own footage handy...

P.S.
How are you not a Lewis Hamilton fan? 😕
Why on earth would you take his arguably worst race ever, the China Grand Prix 2007, and the race where the FIA acted clueless about his screw-ups at the Japan Grand Prix, and use them as the standard examples of what to expect from Lewis? 😕

Look, I’m not exactly his biggest fan, but if we’re talking about the current drivers fighting for the top spot in Formula 1, he’s probably the one I dislike the least. But let’s be real here—blowing a 17-point lead with just two races left? That isn't something just anyone can pull off (and then basically repeat the same mistake next year)... What’s actually interesting is how incredibly lucky Sebastian Vettel was. Because of that collision with Mark Webber and some sort of spill that could have easily been the first win for Red Bull Racing, he didn't face any serious penalties. Honestly, that habit of nearly taking out the guy in front of him during an SC almost became his trademark in the following years. He actually had a pretty rough start back in 2008 too; I remember people calling him the "crash kid" or something like that. Then he pulled off that massive turnaround at the Italian Grand Prix and eventually landed the seat at Red Bull Racing in 2009, where he once again started the season acting like a "crash kid." Those few little mistakes early in the season effectively cost him the title that year.

Sebastian Vettel could’ve actually been penalized by Red Bull for that, even if the logic behind it is pretty shaky..
but since Mark doesn't really rely on logic when making calls—he just goes with his gut—Sebastian was lucky he didn't get punished...

But honestly, the real culprit here is SC, driving like a snail and letting everyone's tires lose temperature because of it...
Then you've got Webber, who spent the whole time riding Hamilton's bumper, only to slam on the brakes so he wouldn't overtake him...
If I remember right, Louie even asked the McLaren Racing pit wall a few times to tell Webber to back off before he crashed into someone...
And then there's Hamilton, pulling god-knows-what nonsense with his braking and that slide off to the side...

Plus, of course, Vettel was glued to Webber's tail, which obviously triggered that delayed reaction of his...
To be fair, it's kind of forgivable for both Hamilton and Vettel since they were just green rookies starting out in Formula 1,
and Vettel was totally blinded by the exhaust from Webber, Hamilton, and SC, so visibility was trash—which is exactly why he should've kept more distance...

But if I were the Team Principal, I’d put the blame on the much more experienced Webber. He really should have known better...

Even whenever you bring up Mark Webber, I always find myself wondering about a couple of things. First, did Red Bull actually call him into the pits during the 2010 Dubai race just to bait Fernando Alonso into a trap? And second, after that mistake in the rain where he hit the wall at the Korean Grand Prix in 2010, did he intentionally leave his car spinning out there just to take out a title contender? (Though, unfortunately for him, he ended up taking out Nico Rosberg instead).

Both of those ideas fall squarely within the realm of conspiracy theories, wouldn't you agree?